What Is Sales Org / Dealer?
A sales org, or dealer, is a company that sells solar systems but subcontracts the actual installation out to a separate installer, running its sales force, often built on 1099 reps, as a business layer distinct from the install side.
$300 setup + $249 per booked appointment.
A sales org, or dealer, is a company that sells solar systems but subcontracts the actual installation out to a separate installer, running its sales force, often built on 1099 reps, as a business layer distinct from the install side.
Sales Org / Dealer explained
A dealer signs the homeowner, handles financing paperwork, and earns its margin on the sale itself, then hands the completed contract to a partnered installer to actually put panels on the roof. This is structurally different from a vertically integrated installer, which handles sales and install under one roof and captures both margins on the same job.
Sunder Energy is the clearest documented example of this model at scale: 893 1099 reps pre-acquisition, with 75%-plus of its sales volume concentrated in California, Florida, and Texas, before SunPower acquired it in September 2025 and doubled its salesforce to 1,734 reps. That geographic concentration lines up closely with where solar appointment-buying demand concentrates generally, since those same three states carry the largest dealer and sales-org economy.
Dealer networks are, per industry analysis, the segment most exposed to 2026's CAC spike and redline compression, since they carry the acquisition cost without capturing install-side margin to offset it. That structural exposure is a large part of why sales orgs and dealers are the buyer segment most likely to need cheaper, outsourced appointment acquisition to protect the commission stack their 1099 reps depend on.
Why it matters when you're buying
If you run a dealer or sales org rather than a vertically integrated installer, your appointment cost has to be justified against redline math alone, without an install-side margin to absorb it. That makes a fixed, known pay-per-sit cost more valuable to your model specifically than it is to an installer with more margin cushion.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a sales org and a vertically integrated installer?
What is the largest documented example of a solar dealer network?
Put the playbook to work
VA Horizon books qualified Solar appointments and builds the systems behind Sales Org / Dealer and the rest of your pipeline.
Book a Solar Call$300 one-time setup · $249 per booked appointment · No-shows replaced free
Recommended next steps